The Road of Life

From Each Day....

At first, I saw God as my observer,
my judge,
keeping track of the things I did wrong,
so as to know whether I merited heaven
or hell when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognized His picture when I saw it,
but I really didn't know Him.

But later on
When I met Christ,
it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride,
but it was a tandem bike,
and I noticed that Christ
was in the back helping me pedal.

I don't know just when it was
that He suggested we change places,
but life has not been the same since.

When I had control,
I knew the way.
It was rather boring,
but predictable...
It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts,
up mountains,
and through rocky places
at breakneck speeds,
it was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said, "PEDAL!"

I worried and was anxious
and asked,
"Where are you taking me?"
He laughed and didn't answer,
and I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life
and entered into the adventure.
And when I'd say"I'm scared,"
He'd lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed,
gifts of healing,
acceptance
and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
my Lord's and mine.

And we were off again.
He said, "Give the gifts away;
they're extra baggage, too much weight."
So I did,
to the people we met,
and  I found that in giving I received,
and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him,
at first,
in control of my life.
I thought He'd wreck it;
but He knows bike secrets,
knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up
and pedal
in the strangest places,
and I'm beginning to enjoy the view
and the cool breeze on my face
with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I'm sure I just can't do anymore,
He just smiles and says..."Pedal."
-author unknown

I have been cleaning house like a mad woman.
I have also been trying to figure out all the New Years Resolutions that I would like to do.
So between the cleaning and thinking I stumbled across this poiem (ok, poem. It drives my daughter crazy when people say poiem so I am doing it to poke the bear) in my Bible study stuff. It seemed like a good place to start, to help me put some things in perspective.

I have also cleaned up my hard drive on my computer and transferred over 5000 photos to my external hard drive which translates into have no pictures available to me quickly. This photo is of a girlfriend  that I went to middle school with in Minnesota. She is running away and her brother is "helping" her. Her father is Jim Brandenburg , he took the photo while hiding in the woods.. Jim is a photographer for National Geographic and now has a gallery in Ely, Minnesota. You really need to check it out, he does beautiful work.

Sunday Ride

The scenario: The temperature was almost 50 degrees and the snow is slowly melting. The kids have been home for nine days and I was starting to go a little bonkers. My husband was out in the garage putting together the basketball hoop that we Santa brought my daughter for Christmas. He was in the Left Brain mode. Focused. Methodical. Get 'er done mode. He gets like that, he is an engineer, he is Left Brain. So when I went out in the garage hopping from foot to foot saying lets go for a ride, huh, huh, wanna go for a ride. Let's go right now. Can we? Can we? And his response was "give me a half hour".  I felt like the kid who just lost his kite in the tree. Boy he must be focused because when it comes to riding he is like an addict, he will look for any excuse to ride any time of the year. Well two minutes later he came in wanting to go for a ride...hehehe, he is sooo easy! The planning: There always has to be a plan. I am always surprised that my DH does not pull out an actual written check list but then he may just have it memorized. Focused. Methodical. When I ride I like to know that there is a destination in mind whether it be a landmark, park or preferably a Starbucks thats all. I am happy with that. We picked our destination, somewhere close because we I knew it was going to get cold fast. My husband has the heated gear. Electric heated jacket, gloves and heated grips. Along with the pants, full face helmet...yada, yada, yada.  I have, hold on to your shorts, the long underwear I used to wear in middle school when I went skiing.  My daughter is actually wearing them now and I had to dig them out from under her bed.   The ride: It was clear, bright and actually pretty warm for December 27th, almost 50 degrees. Let me tell you though, that sun goes behind the trees and it is COLD! Even after dodging the occasional chunks of ice, the large broken jar, sand and gravel from the salt truck it was a nice ride. What we did see though was a HUGE BALD EAGLE. He had just swooped down in front of us grabbing something in his talons and then flew along side of us. How cool it that! We were gone for about an hour and a half.  A nice little break. We got home and the kids had not killed each other so that was a bonus.   And I turned 1000 miles on my bike. Yippee. Go me!

Half Broke Horses

Jeannette Walls lives somewhere close to me. Within a mile on one of the secluded farms with her mother and husband. When I am driving somewhere I will look at one of the horse farms and think, maybe it is this one.

The Glass Castle in probably one of the best books I have ever read. I ran the gamut of emotions from excitement to being completely depressed by the life that Jeannette lived. I was amazed that she has been able to write a book of her life and not come across as bitter or angry.

From Each Day....

Jeanette has come out with a second book that I am very anxious to read.
Half Broke Horses is about the life of her grandmother.
I received it as a Christmas gift and when my husband and kids head to
the beach tomorrow I am going to hunker down and wallow in it.

Christmas Day Dinner...

I am always impressed with the food postings I see on my fellow bloggers sites. Their photos that go with their blogs are always great. I have attempted food photos several times but have never hit the POST button. They were never worth looking at. I really think it has something to do with the round plates and square cropping of the photo. It always felt out of porportion and off kilter. So I thought hmmmm, get rid of the round plates. You have this awesome camera that will allow you to do some heavy cropping, do it. I was at the grocery store trying to figure out what to serve for Christmas dinner. Quite honestly I could not stomach the idea of eating any more turkey. Cornish hens are too close to turkey. The seafood department gave me the idea of King Crab legs. It was only going to be my husband, me and the 3 kids. How expensive could it be. Good Luck!  I chose to do it any way. One big 'ol bag a crab legs, 1 1/2 inch sirloins, baked potatoes, salad and mushrooms sauteed in butter and brown sugar. Yum. Oh, and red wine becuase it is good for your heart. From Each Day....

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Needless to say it was really good. The kids loved them and I ate way too much!

A letter from Santa Claus

From Each Day....

Hello boys and girls, Santa Claus here,

Writing a letter to you on the best time of year.

My elves are real busy making lots of cool toys,

which I will only deliver to good girls and boys.

If you want me to bring these great gifts to you,

there are a few simple things I need you to do.

Mind your parents and do what they tell you to do.

Be sweet to your friends; share your toys with them too.

 

Clean up your toys, put them all away,

to make room for new ones you'll receive Christmas day.

I'll be watching till the night I come to your house.

You will not hear me for I am quiet as a mouse.

 

Try to sleep through the night until Christmas day.

Then you can see what I brought in my sleigh.

I hope you'll be good, I hope that you'll try,

so until Christmas Eve, I must say good-bye.

Sincerely,

Santa Claus

P.S. Please leave my reindeer some carrots, milk and cookies for me

And I will place lots of goodies under you tree.

How I did the BIG pictures.

Ok....for starters I get confused if there is too much writing in directions so I will try and make it as clear as possible.


1. You need to change your blog template.
    a. go to Dashboard
    b.click on Layouts

    c. click on Pick new template
    d. choose Minima Stretch
    e. click Save

Sidebar note:
 Every picture you post to Blogger is stored in Picassa web album. When you upload a photo for a post it is automatically stored in Picassa.


In a separate window open up the Picassa link. This should show all your photos that you have uploaded to blogger.


2. Select New Post
   a. up load a photo like you normally would, but do not add it to the new post. You know how they            upload to the little window and then you highlight it in yellow to add it to the post. Well don't add it to the post.
   b. switch screens to picassa.
   c. the photos you just uploaded will be there.
   d. click on the photo you want to add to the blog.  It will open up real big. On the right hand side you will see a menu of items.
    e.  Click on Links to this photo
    f.   select size of photo.  This will change the embedded image information.
    g.  click on embedded image. the information will then be highlighted. Right click to copy the information.

Now switch screens back to blogger where you are typing you new post.
     a.select  Edit HTML
     b. right click on the screen and click Paste
     c. Your enlarged photo information is now in the post .  If you select preview you can see the enlarged photo. Close the preview window. Select compose and start typing you blog.

What is REALLY nice about doing it this way is when you add your photos it places them one after another, in order.

Simply Joyful Photos has taken screen snapshots if you need some visual help.

Hope this helps. I am so excited that I finally figured it out. Good Luck!

HoHoHo Here Comes the snow!

Boy did we get snow! WOW. It was so pretty coming down. It  was not the big puffy flakes that are so easy to shovel but the small, get into every little crevice packing it in tight weighing a ton when you have to shovel it snow.   We here in the south think snow is pretty. It snows, covers everything in a pretty white blanket and makes everything so fresh and new. Two days later the temperature goes up and melts all the snow. Done. I don't think that is going to be the case this time. I heard a rumor that they are talking about an ice storm for Christmas. Not a good situation. After being locked in the house for 2 days with the kids we were starting to go a little stir crazy so we decided to go for a walk. Martha was more than ready. As we were leaving we met Frank, the man with the plow. From Each Day....

From Each Day....

From Each Day....

From Each Day.... It is so funny to see everyone out in the tractors plowing snow.

I am not sure if this guy is plowing or just out for a ride. When we got home the kids were no where to be found.  I have a feeling they bailed on the playing out in the snow the first chance they got. Cannot figure that one out. Go play in the snow. Have fun.  After our beautiful walk I decorated Christmas sugar cookies with the kids and they made a Ginger Bread House. From Each Day....

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From Each Day....

I finally did it.

I am so proud of myself.
With the help of Simply Joyful Photos and Kate at Chronicles of a Country Girl I was able to finally get a photo posted in the large format. For some reason I have had a devil of a time figuring this out. Now mind you I am not a complete idiot when it comes to the computer. (My husband and daughter may disagree with this statement but they don't get a say in this one. It's MY blog.) Anyway, I DID IT! I have BIG pictures. Well I have one big picture, don't know if I will be able to repeat the action. 

From Each Day....

Good Girl

Martha. Love my Martha. She loves me unconditionally. We have our routines. I take a shower she lays on my towel to warm it up for me. I use the bathroom, she makes sure that the toilet paper us torn off and ready for me to use. I go to the pantry to get something to eat she is right there to make sure no one has poisoned my food. I put a fire in the fireplace and she lays as close to it as possible so no one else gets to close.When I go to bed she lays on the floor next to me so I have something to soft to step on when I get up int he middle of the night to pee.She secures the perimeters of squirrels. She would not have clue what to do if she actually caught one, but she sure tries. The squirrels are VERY afraid of her. Can you tell?

She does love the snow as long as someone is out there with her. We have a reflective vest that she wears  so she does not get confused for a deer.

From Each Day....

My Martha. Martha, Martha, Martha. You are such a prety girl!

No words are needed.

Do you ever feel like this?

I absolutely love this cartoon. I have it on my bulletin board at work and it makes me chuckle every time I see it.